Total Drama: Mansion McLean
by Patwhit01
Summary: One year after Pahkitew Island's conclusion, 18 contestants from past seasons of Total Drama have been invited once again to duke it out for a million dollars! This time in a vast, luxurious mansion. Filled with traps, maze-like elements, and lots of other twists and surprises, who will come out on top? Find out on Total Drama: Mansion McLean!
1. McLean's Mansion of Millions (Part 1)

The scene fades to a clearing in the depths of the Canadian wilderness. The sunset leaves the sky a dark orange. Chris McLean stands in the middle, dwarfed by the large arched gate towering above him. He turns to face the camera, dressed in a gaudy suit, top hat, and cane combo.

"It's been one year since the conclusion of Total Drama: Pahkitew Island," he beamed, sporting his trademark grin as he spoke.

"Bet you're wondering where we've been, huh?" He gave the audience a wink.

"Well, take a look!" Chris stepped aside, revealing behind him a picturesque view of a faraway mansion atop a hill. The mansion, while obscured by shadow, had a large, chaotic yet refined shape to it. Multiple towers could be made out, along with sharp roofs and points.

"For the next eight weeks, 18 returning contestants from all previous seasons of Total Drama will be staying in this mansion, competing for the grand prize of one million big ones!" he explained, holding up a metal case. Upon opening it, wads of bills spilled out, some coming loose and being taken by the wind.

"Well, about a million, give or take a few." Chris chuckled, handing the case to his assistant Chef Hatchet, who walked off towards the mansion.

"Every few days, we'll have a new exhausting challenge for the contestants to suffer through. The losers will have to pick someone to be eliminated from the competition, never to return."

The faint coughs of a faulty engine and the crunching of gravel alerted Chris, who motioned to the cameraman to turn around with his cane.

"Here they are now!" Pulling up to the scene was a worn-out bus, complete with cracked windows, stains of unknown substances, and broken windshield wipers. It's presence alone was a hazard to the environment around it. Upon reaching the clearing, it came to a stop and it's doors opened. The first contestant did not exit from inside the bus, but instead jumped down from atop it.

"Ah, if it isn't our first contestant, Izzy!" greeted redheaded girl absentmindedly picked at her hair, discovering a piece of gum which she promptly ate.

"Ohhh yeah! The show! I totally forgot!" she realized, running up to Chris and giving him a bearhug.

"Hey, Chris! Long time no see!" Chris, deprived of oxygen, poked Izzy with his cane until she let go.

"This is a new suit, Izzy! No touching!" He ordered. Izzy shrugged and stepped aside to observe a berry bush.

The first contestant to step off the bus was a blonde girl, sporting a denim jacket and track shorts. She stopped on the stairs, in awe of her surroundings. Seconds later, she was shoved off the bus by a physically identical girl, with her hair down and wearing a white shirt and a red skirt.

"You're holding up the line, Samey! Don't you know basic courtesy?!" she growled, before being shoved off the bus herself by a stocky girl wearing gray sweats. The girl in the sweats jumped off the bus, stepping around the twins piled on the ground.

"Amy, Samey, Jo, welcome! Ready to have a good time?" jested Chris, who was then jabbed in the chest by the girl in sweats.

"Only _you'd_ call it a good time, McLame!" Jo snarled. "Just hand over the money now, because I'm not playing around this time!" Chris grinned at her, unfazed by her threats.

"If you're so confident in yourself, stand over there so we can get started faster." He signaled Jo to the area Izzy was standing, and she walked over, grumbling under her breath.

The twins, Amy and Samey, walked towards the other contestants, furiously pushing each other the whole way through. Next off the bus was a good-looking young man with a fashion sense inspired by Chris. He eyed Chris top to bottom, as if analyzing his outfit.

"Lookin' stylish Chris! But you might want to ditch the cane, it makes you look 20 years older." He joked. Samey faintly chuckled, while Jo howled at the death glare Chris was giving him. "Unless that's what you're going for!" He let out a nervous laugh and gave Chris a finger gun.

"Very funny, Topher." Topher walked over to the other contestants. Jo slapped him on the back in her laughter, her strength knocking him into the dirt. He frantically wiped his clothes in anguish, screaming "No! Not my clothes!"

The next two contestants to step off the bus were a scruffy boy with a beanie, and an extremely tall girl in wilderness gear. "Shawn, Jasmine! Good to see you again!" Chris hollered to them. Shawn and Jasmine glanced at each other.

"...Sure." Jasmine hesitated as she and Shawn dropped their bags, packed with all kinds of survival gear. Shawn grinned as he eyed the endless wilderness around him.

"So we'll get to set up our own camp again like last time, right?" he said, waiting for Chris' response.

"No, Shawn," Chris replied. "I'm sorry to inform you that you'll be staying in a sprawling mansion with deluxe fabrics and tiled flooring." Shawn groaned in disappointment. Jasmine elbowed him on the shoulder, causing him to yelp and retract his previous expression of disinterest.

Chris turned around to introduce the next contestant, when a small girl in a green sweater seemingly appeared right in front of him. "Dawn! Personal space, please!" Chris exclaimed, jumping back a little.

"It's okay, Chris," Dawn calmly began. "What have you been up to lately? Your aura seems… brighter than before. Not by much, but definitely brighter."

"I'm afraid that's none of your business, _Dawn._ Over there, please." Chris ordered, shooing her away.

Dawn gracefully strolled towards the other contestants, examining the local fauna. She noticed Izzy gorging herself with berries and gasped, smacking them out of her hands. "No! Those berries are toxic!" she screamed. Izzy swallowed the berries she was chewing.

"So THAT'S why they have that tangy aftertaste! Haha!" she laughed, picking more berries much to Dawn's chagrin.

The ninth and tenth campers off the bus were a muscular girl in workout clothes, and a boy in prep clothes with a face of pure disinterest. The girl was carrying a suitcase, which formed a small crater when dropped at Chris' feet. "It's about time you let me back on, Chris." she scowled.

"Eva, Noah, welcome back!" welcomed Chris. Eva picked up her suitcase and walked to the other contestants, ignoring Chris' greeting. Noah took a glance at the mansion.

"So that's the gimmick this time? A big house?" he grunted, scratching his hair.

Chris pointed his cane at Noah and replied, "Yes, Noah! By the way, I heard the great news regarding you."

Noah's eyes widened. "Eh, what great news?" He jumped a slight bit back in shock.

Chris shrugged, putting his hand on Noah's shoulder. "Yep! Great news, all right! You get to stay with me for another eight weeks! Exhilarated, aren't you?" He smirked. Noah opened his mouth for a rebuttal, but decided it wasn't worth it and walked off.

Jo took interest in Eva's heavy suitcase, presuming it to be filled with weights. "Deadlift record?" she challenged, smirking at Eva.

"163kg." Eva mumbled in response. She took out a weight from her bag and began lifting it. Jo raised her eyebrows in slight surprise.

"Best mile time?" Jo continued, crossing her arms. Eva began to lift her weight more aggressively.

"4 minutes 32 seconds." huffed Eva, the annoyance in her voice growing with each question.

"Hm, not bad. Not bad. But it's no 4:30!" gloated Jo. Eva's face reddened, but her expression stayed the same.

"You want a medal?" she snarled back. Jo snickered a bit at Eva's frustration.

"I've ran up the steepest hills in Yukon, how about you?" Jo said, stepping up to Eva's face. Eva tried her hardest to suppress her short temper, but was about to fail when Noah grabbed her shoulder and whisked her away.

"Nice try, Grandma Joe. But I've ran up the steepest hill in all of Canada," he responded, staring Jo in the eye. "It's called your mom." He raised his eyebrows smugly. Jo clenched her fist and hurled obscenities at Noah as he walked away.

Contestant number eleven, a spray-tanned girl in a purple shirt and tight-fitted jeans, stood in the doorway of the bus to spray her large hairdo. From behind her, a small, chubby boy with purple hair stood angrily. He tried pushing her, to no avail. "Remove yourself from this doorway at once, vile woman!" the boy cursed, grabbing the girl's attention.

She turned around, and furiously grabbed him by his shirt. "VILE?! I'll show you vile, ya shampoo bottle lookin' dweeb!" she hollered in a thick New Jersey accent. She picked him up off the ground, and chucked him out of the bus with all of her strength.

"Welcome back, Anne Maria! ...And Max." Chris said to them. Max continued to whine on the ground, while Anne Maria strolled past Chris with a "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Amy elbowed Samey to get her attention, then pointed at Max.

"Can you believe this guy?!" she laughed, "Remove yourself from this doorway, he said!" Samey gave a small "heh" in response before slowly scooting herself away from her sister. Once Amy was done laughing at Max's failure to speak to women, she admired Anne Maria's hair, which she was still spraying.

"How'd you get your hair to look that good?" Amy asked, ignoring the fact thata her eyes were watering from the spray. Anne Maria stopped as soon as she heard the compliment and winked at Amy.

"Oh, it's all natural, sweet cheeks." Satisfied with her own response, she went back to spraying her hair. She ran out of spray, so she threw the bottle away and pulled another bottle out of her hair. Amy, noticing the irony in the previous statement, dropped the topic.

Max had gotten up and walked off to sulk in the fauna when contestants number thirteen and fourteen exited the bus. The first one, a well-built young man in army clothes, saluted Chris before he stepped off the last stair. "Brick McArthur, reporting, sir!" he shouted.

The other one, a tall, lanky boy with bad acne and glasses, saluted back. "Harold McGrady, also reporting, sir!" Brick paused, and offered his hand to Harold.

"No one's ever saluted me before! I commend you, sir!" he exclaimed, not trying to hide his excitement. Harold took the offer, and shook his hand.

"In Muskrat Boys, they always told us to respect our fellow soldiers." Harold struck a pose, imitating a muskrat. Brick gave him a thumbs up.

"Well, sorry to interrupt your little moment, but welcome back Brick and Harold!" Chris shouted at them. Brick saluted Chris once more.

"I'm glad you chose me to participate again, sir! I won't let you down!" and walked to the other contestants. Amy stared at him as he walked past, but turned away and glared at him when he looked back. His eyes locked with Jo, and his smile diminished. "Ma'am." he nodded.

"Brick-for-brains." Jo nodded back. They continued to stare at each other for another minute, before a fly landed in Brick's eye, causing him to scream and smack his own face repeatedly.

Meanwhile, Harold stood near Anne Maria, unaware of her hair spraying habits. She continued spraying, but this time it started to cloud his glasses.

"Gosh!" he huffed, "Don't you know that stuff destroys the ozone layer?"

Anne Maria, still spraying away, explained "Hair spray stopped usin' CFCs in the 80s, string bean. The ozone layer ain't cryin' anymore, so quit cryin' for it'."

Noah overheard this and looked over with a confused expression. "How'd you know that?" he snarked.

"If there's one thing I take almost as seriously as my looks, it's my hair spray. So zip it, forehead." Anne Maria fumed, squinting at Noah. Noah rolled his eyes and backed off.

A loud, but graceful singing voice turned all contestants' attention to the bus. The voice was contestant number fifteen, a girl who radiated the aura of a princess, sang as she stepped off the bus. Anne Maria, Jo, and Amy cringed, while Samey, Jasmine, Brick, and Dawn smiled. Eva, who had calmed her temper, paused her weight lifting to listen intently to her song. Chris' confident demeanor faltered, and he covered his ears with an annoyed expression on his face.

"Ella! Remember what happened last time when you sang?" he barked at her. She hung her head low, her shoulders dropping.

"Yes, Chris." she cried. However, she quickly returned to her perky demeanor and skipped over to greet the other contestants. "Hello, everyone!" she cheered, waving her hand. Samey waved back, and Brick saluted.

"Oh shut it, Chris." said contestant number sixteen, a girl with a sharp demeanor and looks that could kill. "You hosted a whole musical season, so you don't _get_ to complain."

Chris rolled his eyes. "Great observation, Courtney. Too bad I don't care." he said in a dry monotone. Courtney put her hand on Ella's shoulder.

"Your singing was beautiful, honey. Don't listen to Chris." Ella's eyes glistened.

"Thank you so much!" she beamed, clasping both of her hands on Courtney's and jumping up and down. Courtney put her hands on both of Ella's shoulders and pushed down, signaling her to stop.

As Courtney stood near the other contestants, a few of them gave her a scowl. She stuck her head high and ignored them with a small huff. Suddenly, a backpack came flying at her from inside the bus, which she swiftly dodged, causing the backpack to hit Dawn in the back of the head.

"Sorry, my bad!" said contestant seventeen, a tall girl with sleek, violet hair. She ran to get her backpack, bumping a few contestants on the way. "Are you okay?" she shrieked, picking up the backpack.

Dawn, barely conscious, managed to mumble "I think my aura is concussed..." before passing out.

"Hm?" the tall girl responded, preoccupied with examining the contents of her backpack for damages. Shawn and Jasmine rushed over to aid Dawn, while Eva was in shock at the sheer weight of the backpack.

"What do you even HAVE in there?" questioned Eva. The girl giggled mischievously.

"Oh, you know, electronics, photos, Cody's toenails..." She continued giggling. Eva cringed and backed away slowly.

The last contestant, a girl with red pigtails and a fashionable indie outfit, admired the scenery as she stepped off the bus. Chris, who had finished chuckling at Dawn's misfortune, hollered out to the last two contestants.

"Sierra, Zoey!" He grinned, "Great to be back one more time, huh?" Zoey rubbed the back of her head, while Sierra was still rummaging through her backpack. Chris' grin deflated at the lack of responses. "Silence counts as a yes, now stand with the rest of the contestants, if you'd please."

All of the contestants stood facing the gate to the mansion. Dawn, half awake, was being hoisted up by Shawn and Jasmine. Some admired the view, while others had a neutral expression and a few looked disinterested.

"Now that everyone is accounted for, let's get started!" Chris announced, posing for the camera. "It's a bit of a walk to the mansion, but you've handled worse. Let's go, chop chop!"

Chris turned around to start walking, when Noah interjected. "That's not everyone." Almost immediately after, one more contestant stepped off the bus: A round girl with a pink jacket and a giant red bow in her hair. She ran up to Chris, panting.

"You forgot about me, ya! I was invited too!" she wheezed, taking a breath between each word. Chris' eyes bulged at the sight of her, as if he had no idea what was going on.

"Staci? Yeah, uh, I never invited you. Why are you here?" He put his hands on his hips. Staci, still panting, handed him a note from her pocket.

"This invitation, right here! See?" Chris took it, and skimmed through it. When he finished, he tossed it aside, but Staci rushed up to catch it and clutched it tightly.

"This is a legitimate invitation, you are correct," he began, "but you weren't supposed to be invited." He signaled for Chef, and within seconds he appeared seemingly out of the bushes. "Chef, who was in charge of sending out the invitations?" Chef paused for a second, then walked off back into the bushes.

"Well, while I get that settled," Chris said, "Staci, I'm sending you home." Staci hung her head in embarrassment and whimpered.

"That's not right, Chris! You saw her invitation." protested Zoey.

Courtney nodded her head. "I'd sue for fraud." she concurred. Chris sighed in frustration.

"Okay, fine!" he exclaimed. Chef reappeared out of the bushes, accompanied by an intern.

"They're the one who accidentally sent the extra invitation." Chef stated, "Said they pressed the "wrong keys"."

Chris took a breath of relief. "Alright, you're fired." He pointed at the intern. The intern's eyes bulged in shock as Chef carried them away. "Staci, congratulations! You're the new intern."

Staci stepped back in surprise. "I can stay?!" Chris nodded. Staci pumped her fist. Jo rolled her eyes, and Brick nervously scratched his head.

"Now, that little debacle is over." Chris said. "Let's actually get started on walking to the mansion now, shall we?" The contestants, and Staci, followed Chris down the long path to their new home of tricks and traps as they duke it out for the grand prize over the next eight weeks.


	2. McLean's Mansion of Millions (Part 2)

**Review Responses -**

**Andra Comte: **Thank you! Yes, Staci is an intern. That means you're stuck with her. Enjoy :)

**sparkleglitter36:** Thank you. Anne Maria is a fun character to write! I thought Brick and Harold would be good friends, so that's why they got that interaction. I feel Eva was criminally underused in TD, so I had to put her in this! I'm very dedicated to making sure everyone is in-character as much as possible. :)

**roa42x:** Thank you! I'm excited to develop the characters, too. Since Courtney was one of the few who actually enjoyed the musical aspect of World Tour, it only made sense that she would be the one to tell Chris to get off Ella's back about singing. And don't worry, Dawn's fine. Mostly.

**Guest #1:** Anne Maria is fun, agreed. :)

**CMC: **Thanks!

* * *

With the sun setting on the horizon, the contestants made their way to the mansion. The path was rough, winding throughout the wilderness in wide curves. Some contestants took the time to socialize with each other, while some just walked down the trail alone.

Zoey stopped to retrieve something from her purse when she was bumped from behind. Jo, Brick, and Harold sprinted down the path, in a race to see who could reach the mansion first. Something small fell out of her purse, a small silver pendant. Ella, who was walking by, bent down and grabbed it for her before Zoey could do it herself.

"Is this yours?" asked Ella. Zoey nodded, and took it back. "It's very pretty! What is it?" she pointed at it eagerly.

"Oh, it's just a pendant from my boyfriend." replied Zoey, putting it back into her purse. "It's kind of a good luck charm, you know?" Ella clasped her hands, her smile widening at the idea.

"Oh, that is so cute! I have a good luck charm, too." She said. "Want to see it?" Zoey chuckled, asking to see Ella's good luck charm. Ella simply pointed at the bow on her head and giggled. "That's it!" she put her hands on her hips in a proud manner.

"Aw, it does look pretty. Stylish and special!" Zoey agreed. Ella skipped along past Zoey, singing a tune about hair accessories.

Anne Maria was stomping down the path when a piece of gravel got stuck in her shoe. "Agh! I hate stinkin' gravel. Who even likes gravel?! Nobody!" she grumbled, picking the gravel out of her shoe. Amy, who was walking behind her, looked around to see if anyone was watching her. When she saw no one was, she pretended to accidentally bump Anne Maria, who was kneeled on the ground.

"Hey, watch what you're-" she pretended to snarl. "Oh! Hey! Sorry, didn't see you there." She offered her hand to Anne Maria, who refused it and stood up on her own. She raised her brow at Amy, who gave her a fake nervous smile.

"Yeah?" she asked in a defensive tone. "What do ya want, sweet cheeks?" She started filing her nails, not even attempting to make eye contact with Amy.

"Oh, well, I saw your gorgeous outfit and... I just wanted to say you have great fashion sense!" Amy complimented. Anne Maria looked up from her nails, raising her brow even further. "Hey, tell me. This outfit is great, right?" Amy posed.

Anne Maria eyed her for a moment, then resumed filing her nails. "Eh, not my style." she replied.

Samey was further ahead, pacing behind Topher. She tried to muster up the courage to talk to him, but it just wasn't working out. Topher, unaware of her presence, was speaking to Sierra.

"So, you moderate Total Drama wikis, eh?" He asked Sierra. Sierra nodded, scrolling furiously through the 50 identical tabs on her phone.

"Oh, yeah! I host blogs, too!" she said, counting on her fingers. "And draw fanart… as well as host contests, write fanfiction, and collect ALL the merchandise!" She pulled out a small figurine of herself from her backpack and pointed to it. "That's me!" she giggled. She pulled out another figurine, and smacked them together furiously, trying to imitate kissing. "And this one is Cody, tee hee."

"Oh, I love Total Drama too, yeah!" Topher said. "You could call me…" he slicked back his hair and winked. "...an expert, maybe?" Sierra proceeded to explode into laughter.

"Haha! Didn't you try to take over Chris as host?" her laughing growing louder. Topher pouted.

"That was merely a fluke!" he growled in response. "I'm in it to win it this time! I don't need Chris' crummy old spot!" he pointed at Sierra angrily, poking her nose. Sierra's laughing fit subsided.

"Yeah! I didn't do so good my last time, either!" concurred Sierra, crossing her arms. "The replies on my blog posts after my elimination in All-Stars," she sniffed, wiping a singular tear off her face dramatically. "They said I was too unfocused! They said I wasn't funny! "Take a chill pill" they said! Well THAT'S IT!"

Sierra stomped the ground, her fists clenched. She grabbed Topher by his collar and pulled him close to her. "I'm gonna win this! Not just for Cody, but for ME! I'm gonna show those readers! Nobody tells SIERRA to take a CHILL PILL!" she shouted proudly.

"A chill pill is not what you need." Topher nodded. "It's breath mints." He gagged, trying to get over the stench of Sierra's rancid breath. Sierra let go of Topher's shirt, still congratulating herself over her self-motivation speech. "Say, how do you feel about an alliance, then?" said Topher. "It's a common part of the game, after all."

Sierra opened one of her eyes, staring him down intensely. She leaned towards him, covering him in her shadow. "Sure!" she chirped, grabbing Topher's hand and sprinting towards the mansion, practically dragging him along the gravel.

Samey lagged behind, her attempts at trying to join in on the conversation failed. Her walking slowed almost to a halt as she pathetically kicked pebbles into the nearby creek.

Meanwhile, Max was talking with Staci about his evil plans to win the show and eventually take over the world. Staci, utterly confused, muttered a "That's great" or a "Yeah" periodically.

"Ya, one of my ancient ancestors was a real villain all right." she said. Max's eyes widened with intrigue.

"A villain?! Tell me, how evil?" he asked. "Did they take over a country? Perhaps start a war? Were they a TAX COLLECTOR?!" said Max, rubbing his hands together in devilish delight.

"Nah, worse." Staci explained. "They invented homework, yup." Max gasped and jumped back, his face riddled with utter disgust.

"How dastardly and despicable! A true villain, I say!" He put his hand to his chest. "Perhaps you could be a worthy sidekick." He continued walking down the path, thinking about Staci's evil genius relative.

"Watch out!" Staci shouted to Max, who didn't notice the unstable piece of ground in front of him. As he stepped on it, it collapsed and revealed a deep hole. The shape was almost perfectly rectangular, implying it was man-made.

"Ooh, sorry about that." Chris chuckled as he passed by. "That was just a test for one of the traps I was going to put into the mansion."

"Hold on, did you say traps?" questioned Jasmine as she and Shawn ran up to the scene. She peered down into the chasm and shuddered. Dawn, who was now being lifted solely by Jasmine, glared at Chris.

"Oh, I guess I didn't mention that yet. Sorry for the spoiler!" He confessed. "Hey, here's your first challenge. Get Max out of that hole for me, will you? Thanks." He snapped his fingers and strolled away.

"Get me out of here this instant, you cretins!" Max screamed, trying hard to hide the fear in his voice.

Jasmine shoved Shawn forward with her free arm. "Nope. Not doing it." She shivered. Shawn grabbed her hand, which calmed her shaking.

"It's ok, Jasmine. Your severe claustrophobia… broken… barbecue. Hot dog." Dawn mumbled incoherently, patting Jasmine on the leg to comfort her.

"I'll get him out of there for you, Jasmine. Don't worry about it." smiled Shawn. He examined the area for something that would help him. He thought of several plans, but scrapped them all. He turned to Jasmine, asking if she had any ideas.

"Have you tried… rope?" She offered. Shawn's face brightened.

"Rope! That is such a great idea!" he replied. "You're the best, Jasmine!" he ran over to the nearby plants to start extracting the fiber, when he noticed they were already ripped apart.

"Ya, my great great great great… lots of greats grandpa with the name I can't pronounce invented the first type of rope." Staci said to Shawn. She had already crafted most of the rope needed to help Max, and was in the middle of finishing it. "Before that, they crafted long poles out of clay to climb on, but it took them a long time to harden so they were pretty pointless, yup." Shawn stared at her with a confused look, which she ignored.

"That's great and all, but you still need to THROW DOWN THE ROPE!" Shawn shouted. Staci jumped and frantically threw down the now finished rope. Max grabbed it, but the strands sticking out of the rope poked his hands.

"Confound this rope! You couldn't have made a softer one?" yelled Max, whose hands were experiencing rope burn from merely touching it.

"Quit crying and just climb up the rope!" Shawn yelled back, helping Staci pull up the rope. After half a minute of climbing and pulling, Max reached the surface again. He rolled in pain on the ground, breathing on his hands to soothe the burning sensation. Staci grabbed him and pulled him to his feet.

"I take back my statement about you being a worthy sidekick." Max seethed through clenched teeth, pointing at Staci with his swollen hand. Staci high fived his hand in response, causing him to run away screaming.

"That same ancestor was also the first to experience rope burn, you bet." She giggled, and continued walking down the path. Jasmine cringed and rubbed her hand on her leg, thinking about the pain Max was feeling.

"Her aura… clouded in mystery… and philly cheese steaks." Dawn mumbled.

"You might want to hurry up," Noah said as he passed by with Eva. "I think her brain got turned into a philly cheese steak, if I'm being honest." Jasmine took the hint and started sprinting to the mansion faster, Dawn flopping in her arm. Shawn trailed close behind.

"So, why didn't you join the musclehead mansion marathon?" Noah asked Eva, who was still lifting her weights from earlier. She gave Noah a side-eye.

"Meh. I don't need to show off." Eva replied. "It'd just get me mad if I ended up losing."

"Even if there's no reward for winning?" Noah shrugged. Eva sighed, and put her weight back into her bag.

"I originally came onto Total Drama to help curb my temper, you know." She said. "Obviously, it didn't work." Noah's normally disinterested expression faded a bit.

"Well yeah, you kind of did pretty terrible." He replied. Eva punched him in the arm. "Okay, I deserved that one." he winced, rubbing the dull pain in his arm.

"I'm not gonna waste my time trying to get into flexing competitions with knuckleheads like Jo if I want to improve." growled Eva, cupping her fist with her hand. "I need allies, friends, whatever you want to call 'em. That's how you get far."

"Just don't get eliminated second, honey." Noah smirked. He raised his hands in defense when Eva scowled at him. "Don't take it too personal. If you need support, I'll help."

Eva raised her brow in genuine surprise. "You know, you've changed a lot from that irritating egghead you were last time."

"Nope, still an irritating egghead." Noah pointed a finger gun at her, sporting his trademark annoying grin. "But that's a good guess, regardless."

Eva and Noah stopped and stared at Ella who had skipped past them, singing the theme song to a popular cartoon.

"It's like I'm in World Tour all over again." mocked Noah. He turned to judge Eva's reaction to his statement, but she was just gazing at Ella as she got farther and farther away.

"Her singing is good, even if the songs she sings are kinda dumb." Eva admitted, nodding with her eyes closed.

Noah chuckled until Eva opened one her eyes and stared directly at him with a look of rage. "Okay, maybe it's alright." he replied, wiping dust off his shoulder.

Jo, Brick, and Harold had reached the front door of the mansion. Above the large, grandiose doors laid a giant mural of Chris' head, which seemed to stare down at them. The mansion itself towered over them, instilling a feeling of dread. Jo leaned against the doors, declaring herself the winner.

"Jo - 1!" she cheered. "G.I. Joke and Dweebus V - 0!" Harold tried to blurt out a response, but his heavy breathing made it hard to understand. Brick reluctantly congratulated Jo on her victory.

"Congratulations on your victory, haha!" exclaimed an unknown voice. Jo looked around to find the source, when Izzy dropped down from the top of the overhang covering the top of the doorway.

"How-" Jo stuttered, clenching her fists in a mixture of rage and confusion. "How did you get here before me?!" Izzy simply laughed and climbed back onto the overhang, pretending to disappear.

"Don't try to question Izzy, you won't get answers." Harold explained after gaining his breath back. Brick, trying to climb the pole to figure out where Izzy went, fell and landed in front of Harold.

Jo impatiently paced back and forth in front of the door, wondering where Chris was. "Usually he's right on top of these things!" she growled. Brick shrugged, picking pieces of gravel out of his hair. Harold tried to lean on a tree, but missed it and fell into a bush instead.

After about ten grueling minutes of Jo trying to kick the door down, failing, and resuming her pacing, the rest of the contestants started to arrive. Sierra was first, dragging Topher who was covered in dust, rocks, and other unknown substances. Jasmine and Dawn came next, shortly followed by Shawn. Ella was almost at the door when she was shoved out of the way by Max, still screaming about his hands.

"Oh, now this is ridiculous. It's _locked?_" grunted Courtney as she arrived, tugging the door lock frustratingly.

"Welcome to the club, princess." Jo responded. Courtney rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall left of the doors.

Eva and Noah showed up soon after, followed by Amy, Anne Maria, Staci, and Zoey. Samey showed up last, still moping. Ella disliked seeing her pitiful walking, and nervously tapped her on the shoulder.

"Whatever is the matter, Samey?" she asked. Samey jerked her head up, her expression changing from sadness to anger. "It's SAMMY, not SAMEY!" she shouted at Ella, who stepped back and covered her face defensively. The other contestants were staring at her.

"Wait, Ella, I'm sorry." She hugged Ella in regret of her outburst. Ella reciprocated the hug, whimpering like a sad puppy. Brick let out an audible "Aww", but hid behind a tree after receiving stares from all who heard him. Amy pretended to gag.

"Ugh, Samey, seriously? You're always so rude." She said, flipping her hair. She was surprised when she saw Noah raising his brow at her, and responded by blowing a raspberry at him.

Suddenly, the front doors burst open to reveal Chris waiting for them. Inside was a grand foyer, with a large staircase in the middle that lead up to a second floor, as well as two hallways to the left and right. The walls were lined with all kinds of priceless decor, such as paintings and statues from all kinds of cultures. A large chandelier loomed above the center of the room, lighting it with its many candles.

"Welcome, one and all," Chris stretched his arms out, showing off the room behind him. "To Mansion McLean!" The contestants stared in awe at what was in front of them, some had their mouth gaping open. Amy stumbled into the doorway, dazed from being crushed by the opened doors. "Your mansion stinks." She added, gaining back her composure after nearly falling over.

Chris jabbed her in the shoulder with his cane. "And it'll get even stinkier! Follow me, if you please." He tipped his hat, and lead the contestants down the halls, making turn after turn. Eventually, after the contestants couldn't remember where they came from, Chris stopped at a door. Above it was a sign, with "CONFESSIONAL" handwritten onto it elegantly.

"No introduction needed, because you know what this is." Chris said nonchalantly, opening the door. Inside, Chef was sitting on the toilet reading a newspaper, whistling a happy tune. When he noticed the door opening, he met eyes with Chris and began screaming and chucking all nearby objects until he closed the door. "Yeah, we're moving on." Chris said with a thousand-yard stare.

* * *

**Confessional: Staci**

"Ah, the confessional. It's like a diary. You know, my great great great great great…" The footage speeds through Staci saying "great" for several seconds. "...great great uncle Edmond wrote the first diary. Before that, people just bottled up their feelings until it all burst out in an explosion of rage!" Staci imitates an explosion. "Ah, we've come so far…"

* * *

**Confessional: Courtney**

"You know," she ran her finger down the wall, coating her finger with fresh paint. "It's nice to have a confessional that isn't a walking health violation." she rubbed the paint off her finger, squinting at the camera with a look of distrust. "It's too nice. This whole mansion is too nice!" She eyed the room around her. "I don't know what Chris is planning, but I do not trust-" Courtney's spiel was suddenly interrupted by the door bursting open, with Harold tumbling into the room.

"Oh, so that's why it's locked." Harold mumbled as Courtney started shouting at him.

* * *

On the second floor, Chris showed the contestants the next stop on his tour. A large, open room with a high ceiling. Across the door was a vast window that sported a view of the scenic wilderness surrounding the mansion. Perpendicular to the window was a long, narrow dining table facing a grand stage that hosted an extravagant organ.

"Welcome… to the Dining Hall of Suspense!" Chris revealed. An intern played a gloomy tune on the organ, the sound of which echoed throughout the room. "This is where the elimination ceremony will take place."

"...And?" Jasmine asked curiously. Chris wagged his finger playfully and poked her with his cane. "You'll find out how it works when we get there, heh heh." responded Chris, ushering them out the door.

Stop number three was the cafeteria, a decently sized room with six wooden tables, an area to display the food, and a large kitchen banned to all except Chef. The contestants stared in awe at the gourmet food on display, some even drooling at the sight of it.

"Is that… actual food?!" Sammy gasped, sticking her face up against the glass until Amy yanked her off of it by her ponytail. Courtney glared at Chris, suspecting it was a ruse.

"Oh, those? Yeah, that's plastic." Chris explained. Aside from Courtney, all contestants' faces collectively shriveled from disappointment as Chris uttered his sentence. "I'll have Chef remove it later. Thanks for the reminder!" he added, leaving a note on the display that reads "CHEF. WHY IS THERE PLASTIC FOOD HERE. YOU KNOW I CAN'T EAT PLASTIC. -CHRIS"

* * *

**Confessional: Sammy**

"At least I don't have to pick any more berries?" she smiled sheepishly, fiddling with her hair. "It doesn't hurt to have some variety, even if it _is_ made by Chef."

* * *

**Confessional: Noah**

"Noooo, come back…" Noah pretended to cry. "Honestly, plastic fruits are probably more nutritious than the food Chef cooks." He sat in silence as his eyes darted back and forth, leaning towards the camera. "He doesn't view these, right?"

* * *

**Confessional: Izzy**

Izzy takes a bite out of one of the plastic fruits, with one of her teeth falling out. "Crunchy!" she giggles, her mouth full of fake apple.

* * *

"There's one more thing I wanted to show you, but I'm going to let you wait to find out." Chris said as he stopped in front of two adjacent doors, once again on the first floor. "Here's your team cabins!"

"Sir!" Brick spoke up. "Permission to ask where the other team's cabin is?"

Chris looked behind him, and then back at Brick. "Permission denied! These are both team's cabins right here!" responded Chris, grinning at the confused gazes he received. "Boys and girls will be bunking together this time."

Some of the contestants started chuckling mischievously. Chris stomped his foot down to grab their attention. "No funny business! This is a reality show. I expect you to be on your best behavior…" he said, squinting at the chucklers in the back. "...Unless you want the whole world to see?" Everyone who laughed immediately fell silent.

"Alright, team time!" Chris clapped. "Eva, Amy, Samey-" Sammy frustratingly corrected him. "-Noah, Izzy, Ella, Jo, Shawn, and Zoey! You are… the _Marvelous Maids!"_ Chris presented the team's logo, a silhouette of a maid clumsily spilling cleaning tools. Several of the team members rolled their eyes. Izzy, however, jumped up and down and grabbed Eva and Noah in a headlock.

"Team E-Scope makes its grand return!" she squealed, squeezing them harder, causing them to start to choke until Eva jabbed her in the stomach. Noah gave Eva a small "Thanks." while rubbing his neck.

* * *

**Confessional: Jo**

"If I didn't want that money so bad, I would've quit the moment I got put on a team called the _Maids._" she gagged, looking visibly repulsed. "Especially with that girly-two-shoes _Raduncel_. Like, seriously? She belongs in a direct-to-TV movie, not in this game."

* * *

The Marvelous Maids lined up next to the left cabin. Chris tapped his chin, looking over the remaining contestants. "Pretty obvious, but it's a formality." he started, pointing at the remaining half of the contestants. "Jasmine, Topher, Courtney, Anne Maria, Max, Brick-" Brick saluted and rushed to the door to line up first. "-Sierra, Harold, and Dawn. You are now the _Brilliant Butlers!"_

The team logo appeared, this time a silhouette of a butler tripping while holding a food tray. The Brilliant Butlers lined up at the right cabin.

Staci now stood alone, not part of either team. "So… what about me?" she asked Chris.

"Oh, right. I forgot you were here, to be honest." Chris retorted and called for Chef. Within seconds, Chef appeared and whisked Staci away down the halls.

* * *

**Confessional: Jasmine**

"Bein' on opposite teams to Shawn again is a bit of a bummer, gotta admit." she leaned on the counter, gesturing with her hands as she spoke. "I just hope he'll man up and not get himself kicked off like a dipstick."

* * *

**Confessional: Max**

"Finally! Real bedding for real evil." he slammed the counter with his fist. "And a new team to use to advance up the ranks of this wretched game! Bwahahahaha-" A fly gets caught in Max's mouth, and he chokes on it before eventually spitting it out. "...Evil needs some mouthwash."

* * *

"Great news! There will be no challenge today." Chris exclaimed, gaining cheers from both teams. "Get your stuff unpacked and get yourselves ready, because there _will_ be a challenge tomorrow. And you're probably not gonna like it, heh." Chris strutted off down the hall, presumably to his own quarters. Both teams went into their cabins and started unpacking their belongings.

In the Marvelous Maids' cabin, Eva finished unpacking and decided to get started on her leg workouts. Noah was in the middle of reading a book, but noticed something odd when he glanced up at Eva.

"What, is your MP3 player broken?" Noah asked her. She, still in the middle of her routine, looked over to him and huffed.

"No. Not broken. Just concentrating." she said, hesitating on her last words. Noah thought about it, but looked over to the bunks opposite to him, where Ella sat at the top singing a song about being healthy. His face became smug and he resumed reading his book, thinking he figured out the reason for Eva's lack of MP3 player.

* * *

**Confessional: Eva**

"FINE! I ADMIT IT!" she screamed, facing the ceiling. "Ella's singing is good, okay?" She aggressively pointed at the camera, adding "It's calming!" She sighed and dropped her shoulders.

"She's really weird, though. I don't know how to feel about her yet." Her eyes widened after thinking over what she just said, and leaned into the camera until only her eye was visible. "DON'T YOU DARE LAUGH!"

* * *

**Confessional: Ella**

"I'm here in this house, just me and this blouse!" She twirled her fingers as she sang. "Oh, I'm here in this house, and just maybe a mouse!" She felt something hop onto her shoulder. When she turned to look at it, she discovered it was a large house spider and ran out the door, her screams cracking the lens of the camera.

* * *

"Hey, Princess Dork-A-Lot! Put a cork in it, yeah?" yelled Jo from across the room as she practiced her own workout routine. Seconds later, she dodged a suitcase which Eva had thrown at her. "You missed!" she sneered, being hit by a second object thrown in retaliation.

"I'm sorry, Ella, but can you actually quiet down a little? Its late." Zoey asked politely. Ella happily gave her a thumbs up and quieted her singing. Zoey was on her bed, experimenting with different types of makeup when the ladder to the top bunk snapped off the bed and crashed onto the floor with a loud thud. "Eh?! What's going on?" Zoey squeaked, looking at the bunk above her.

Shawn locked eyes with her from the top bunk. "Chris said I had to sleep in here. So I'm just being cautious." Zoey tilted her head in confusion and looked at the fallen ladder.

"Why did you remove the ladder?" she replied. Shawn rolled his eyes at her like she said something stupid.

"If someone were to turn into a zombie, they wouldn't be able to climb up here, obviously!" scoffed Shawn, who was getting frustrated with Zoey.

"Um… alright. But they're zombies, so they wouldn't be able to climb anyway…" muttered Zoey quietly as she wiped wood shavings off her bed.

Shawn glared. "Yeah, how would you know? Ever seen a zombie before?"

"...Have you?" Zoey hesitantly asked.

"That's not the point!" Shawn quickly shouted, returning to the fortifying of his bunk.

"Hey, zombie freak!" Amy shouted from her bunk. "Ooooo! I'm gonna eat your brains!" she groaned, pretending to be a zombie. No one acknowledged Amy's attempt at humor. "What?! It was funny and you know it!" she complained.

"Yeah, it could be funny if you were five." Noah chimed in, his face still stuck in his book.

* * *

**Confessional: Shawn**

"Amy is that bratty girl who dies first in zombie movies." He said, crossing his arms. "Just because I'd save her from being eaten alive doesn't mean I'd feel good about it."

* * *

Ella had run out of breath from singing, so she decided to take a break. She noticed Sammy sitting on the edge of her bed with her head hung low, and decided to attempt once again to talk to her.

"Samantha?" she said, tugging her arm a bit. "I apologize for earlier. I just wanted to know why you looked so sad, like you do right now." Sammy sighed, turning to look at Ella.

"Sorry for yelling at you in front of everyone. You didn't mean it. I just… hate being called Samey. It's even worse that Chris encourages everyone to call me by it." She quietly replied. Ella gave her a warm smile.

"It was my own ignorance, Samantha. No need to worry." Ella held her hand. "Tell me what's wrong, please." Sammy grinned, even if it was barely visible.

"Well…" Sammy started.

"Samey likes Topher!" Amy butted in. "She's just sad he ignored her for someone who's prettier than she is."

* * *

**Confessional: Sammy**

Sammy loudly growls while her right eye twitches.

* * *

"Would you just shut your mouth for one time in your life, Amanda?!" stormed Sammy, the veins in her fist almost bursting from how hard she clenched them. "I don't want to hear squat from you, especially after I saw you drooling over Brick back at the bus!" Surprisingly, Amy went quiet with her mouth gaping open, and reluctantly backed off, covering her face with her pillow.

"Wow! A crush on Commander Dripple?!" Jo yelled in surprise. "That's a new one!" She laughed at Amy, who was screaming at the top of her lungs into her pillow.

"Oh!" Ella gasped, hugging Sammy tight to calm her rage. "It's okay, Samantha. Please calm down." The rage drained from Sammy's face.

"She's not wrong, for once." Sammy sniffled. "I kind of like him, but he's on the other team now." Ella squeezed her tighter.

"That's okay. Teams don't matter, you'll get plenty of time to talk with him if you want to." reassured Ella. Sammy's smile grew as she hugged Ella back.

"Thanks, Ella." she calmly replied. Ella thanked her back and climbed back onto her bunk to get ready to sleep.

* * *

**Confessional: Amy**

"Oh, that's it." She stared into the camera, her face filled with nothing but rage. "She did _not_ say that to me." She sat almost completely still as she breathed heavily to the point where it was audible. "She'll regret it." She kicked the door open and stomped out of the room.

* * *

In the Butlers' cabin, most were quieting down, getting ready to sleep. Anne Maria was fluffing her pillow, her bed elaborately decorated in all kinds of stickers and sequins, reaching even Harold's half of the bunk.

"Is this necessary?" Harold asked, picking at the glitter and sequins stuck to his bed frame. Anne Maria smacked his hand and scolded him for touching them.

"It's a gift that I even thought about putting them on your half, ya bozo! Don't touch!" Anne Maria barked at him as she adjusted her hair for optimal sleeping comfort. She continued to slap more glitter onto the bed, which irritated Harold's eyes.

Brick was nervously finishing his unpacking. He jumped when two pairs of long, stalk-like eyes peered at him from the top bunk. On further realization, they were actually just Jasmine's legs.

"I'm too tall for these beds…" Jasmine whined as she continued to readjust herself in different sleeping positions. "Why so nervous, Brick?" she asked, actually peering at him from her bunk this time.

"Oh, it's just odd. I've never had co-ed bunks before." He sighed, plugging something into the nearby electrical socket. It lit up his bed, calming him down.

"It's not like we're gonna give you cooties, Brick." Jasmine reassured him. He nodded in agreement. She looked closely at what was illuminating his bunk. "Is that a night light?"

Brick quickly snatched the night light out of the socket and tossed it in his bag. "No, ma'am! A soldier does not sleep with night lights!" He paused before taking the night light back out and softly plugged it in. "Okay, maybe I do." he added.

"That's sad." Anne Maria responded, filing her nails.

"Well, everyone's scared of somethin'." defended Jasmine. "I hate the dark, too. Well, mostly if its in a cramped area." Brick shook her hand. "Well put!" he agreed.

"Yeah, like how Harold's scared of ninjas." Sierra chimed in.

"I am totally NOT!" argued Harold. "Ninjas are afraid of me!" He swung his trusty nunchunks around, making ninja sounds.

Jasmine looked around to check on Dawn, who was already fast asleep. With a smile of relief, she attempted to fall asleep herself. "G'night." she told the team.

"I hope you have a rather mediocre night!" responded Max. Jasmine rolled her eyes.

"Thanks, Max." she muttered dryly.

Topher and Sierra lay awake, chatting to each other about Total Drama trivia.

"And that's how I found out Chris' favorite animal!" Sierra giggled as she finished a long story. Topher nodded, signaling his interest.

"One more Chris question." He said to Sierra. "Does he have any allergies?" Sierra rubbed her chin, searching through her seemingly endless knowledge for the answer.

"Oh, that's easy. Chris is super allergic to blue cheese." Sierra confidently replied. Topher looked visibly puzzled.

"Blue cheese? Really?" he said in disbelief. Sierra reaffirmed her statement. "Here I thought Chris was allergic to shampoo with how his hair always looks!"

"Well, Chris only uses a specific brand of shampoo because other brands irritate his hair." informed Sierra, completely serious.

"I- I was joking." Topher stuttered, almost feeling pity towards Chris.

"Are you done yet? If you love Chris so much, just marry him!" scolded Courtney from the bunk opposite to them.

Sierra raised her head and looked down on Courtney. "That would be cheating on Cody, which is a crime." She explained, raising her finger. "Future lawyers shouldn't encourage crimes." Courtney groaned and went back to sleep.

"Makes you wonder why Chris decided to bring her back." Topher whispered to Sierra. Sierra shrugged and clasped her hands.

"I think I'd be angry all the time too if I was Courtney." Sierra thought out loud.

After more conversation, Topher and Sierra went to sleep so that they wouldn't be too tired for the challenge tomorrow.

With all members of the Maids and Butlers asleep, the game will now truly begin. What will happen next? Who's going home first? Find out next time, on Total Drama: Mansion McLean!

* * *

_Team Status: (Just because!)_

**The Marvelous Maids: **Eva, Jo, Ella, Izzy, Noah, Shawn, Zoey, Amy, Sammy.

**The Brilliant Butlers:** Jasmine, Max, Topher, Sierra, Brick, Harold, Anne Maria, Courtney, Dawn.

**Eliminated:** _None yet! Stay tuned!_


	3. Special Delivery

**Review Responses -**

**Trygve11: **Thank you! Very interesting speculation. We'll see if it comes true. :)

**Lordgemini:** Thank you. Yes, I want to give a fair amount of screentime to every contestant before they inevitably go. Some will get more than others, but that's just a given. Amy will be an interesting one, that's for sure.

**Boo04Bot:** Harold and Brick are awesome!

**IGwilledCheeseI:** Thank you! The antagonist will have to show themselves eventually, but we're only in the beginning stages right now. I like Anne Maria too!

**Roa42x:** Thank you. I LOVE to develop the characters more, it's one of the main reasons I decided to do this in the first place. (About Izzy, I guess I was gonna forget about someone eventually.) I don't want to eliminate anybody either, but it's part of the game. :/

* * *

"Hellooooooo campers!" Chris' voice boomed over the intercom. "Er, contestants. Or I could just call you losers, what do you think?" The contestants groaned as they stumbled out of bed. Some had stayed asleep. Dawn sat on her bed in a lotus position, wide awake.

"I can feel it's going to be such a fine day outside." Dawn stated, regaining her ability to speak coherently. "Unfortunately, we'll instead be stuck in this dusty old cabin."

"Didn't ask for your feedback, _Dawn_." Chris replied, overhearing her remark. "Anyways, report to the cafeteria for breakfast." Anne Maria, who had covered her ears with her pillow, chucked her hair brush at the intercom.

"Hey! You break it, you buy it!" scolded Chris. Anne Maria threw another hair brush in response.

"Zip it! I'm trying to sleep." Anne Maria fluffed her pillow and went back to sleep. With a loud bang, Chef burst open the door and forcefully threw her into the hall. The rest of the team watched in surprise, not done changing out of their pajamas.

In the Maids' cabin, Jo jumped off her bunk. She landed on a decently sized weight, causing her to slip and hit her head on the bottom bunk.

"Hey, Anger Management! Ever heard of cleaning?" Jo yelled at Eva, rubbing her head. Eva sat up and glared directly at her.

"That's not my weight, moron." Eva told her in a monotone voice. "You can tell because it stinks."

"How does a weight stink?! It's a WEIGHT!" Jo raised her voice, attracting the attention of the half-awake team.

"YOU TELL ME!" Eva yelled back, shoving her covers aside and stomping towards Jo. They stood off, staring at each other with fury in their eyes. The rest of the Maids hopped off their beds and attempted to hold them back. Even with three to four people trying to restrain them, they didn't have much success.

"Oh, come on. It's the first day." Shawn groaned. He stepped out of the cabin and began to head towards the cafeteria alone.

"The Walking Dork is right." Jo said, stepping back. "It'd be fun to pummel you, but it's too soon for that." Jo gave Eva a devilish smirk and strolled out the door in a playful manner.

Eva stood still, heaving like a bull while attempting to be restrained by Noah, Sammy, and Zoey. Wanting to release her anger, she grabbed a nearby pillow and punched a hole straight through it, spilling its feathers all over the floor.

"Hey! That was mine!" whined Amy, frantically picking up feathers off the ground and trying to stuff them back into the pillow. Eva stomped towards the cafeteria, practically dragging her teammates with her. Amy shouted "Wait up!" as she sprinted out the door, not wanting to be last.

* * *

Fortunately for the contestants, the path to the cafeteria was relatively short and heavily labeled so they wouldn't get lost. Once everyone arrived, they grabbed a tray and formed a line. Most of the contestants reluctantly grabbed their barely edible slop and quietly sat down, but the contestants from Pahkitew Island were new to Chef's cooking.

"Chef, my man! Still got that charm, I see!" Topher complimented, trying to get on Chef's good side. "Say, what's the recipe? Care to share?" Chef, unfazed by Topher's compliments, poured a second serving of slop onto his tray.

"You're so kind, pretty boy. Have some more, then." Chef replied with sarcasm in his voice. Topher looked down at the wiggling slop and started to sweat. He nervously thanked Chef and walked to his table.

Ella looked over her team's tables, thinking about who to sit with. She decided to go from left to right, so she could get to know her whole team. Starting with Jo, she sat down across from her and greeted herself.

"Hello, Jo!" Ella smiled. "Is your name short for Johanna? Maybe Jolene?" she listed a few more names before Jo grabbed her mouth and held it shut.

"It's just Jo. Beat it, Raduncel." Jo pushed Ella's tray closer to her and pointed towards the rest of the team.

"Oh, okay. Nice meeting you!" Ella said sheepishly, grabbing her tray and finding somewhere else to sit. She sat down next to Shawn, who was scarfing down his food.

"Hello, Shawn!" She sang to him. He looked up at her, muttering something incomprehensible from his stuffed mouth.

"Can you please repeat that?" Ella patiently asked, wiping tiny pieces of food off of her face. Shawn swallowed the food he was chewing and threw his fork down into his tray.

"I said, I like to eat alone. It feels weird when people watch me eat. Can you sit somewhere else?" Shawn replied, waiting intently for Ella's response. Before she could open her mouth to give a response, Izzy performed a backflip onto the table and landed in Shawn's food tray, splattering Shawn and Ella with the gooey slop. The other team gave her a golf clap, with Sierra holding up a sign containing a nine.

"Thank you, thank you!" Izzy gloated as she gave a bow, not noticing the looks of confusion her team was giving her. She noticed Shawn and Ella looking up at her, covered in goop. "Wow, you guys were hungry!" chortled Izzy, as she rubbed off a piece of food from Shawn's face and ate it.

"Wow, okay. You guys were REALLY hungry!" Izzy cringed, hopping off the table and sitting down in an empty spot. After wiping herself off, Ella excused herself and sat down farther along the table, across from Amy.

"Hello, Amanda." Ella smiled as she sat down. "Is it okay if I call you that? It's a nice name."

Amy's face turned red as she raised her hand, as if readying to smack Ella. However, her stomach didn't approve of Chef's food, to which she used her readied hand to cover her mouth and dashed out of the cafeteria to find the confessional.

Ella sat bewildered at Amy's sudden exit, but paid it no mind and scooted down the table towards Eva and Noah.

"Hello!" Ella once again greeted, cheerfully waving at Eva and Noah. Noah raised his hand back, gave a "Hi." and lowered it.

"My name is Ella." Ella clasped her hands together joyfully. "Since we're on a team, I figured we should get to know each other!" she reached out her hand, which Eva and Noah cautiously shook, exchanging glances at each other.

"...Hello." Eva grunted, barely maintaining eye contact with Ella. Noah just nodded back at her.

"Alright, here we go! Who wants to go first?" Ella asked. Eva mumbled something incomprehensible and Noah nonchalantly scratched his chin. Ella patiently waited for several more seconds to get a response, but only received a cough from Noah.

"Alright, that's fine! I'll go first." Ella gave a small thumbs up and adjusted her bow. "My name is Ella, and I love animals, singing, and poetry!" She sang a high note and held it for a few seconds. Eager to know if they were listening, she gave a smile to Eva and Noah. Their expressions unchanged from before, Noah gave her an unenthusiastic thumbs up.

"Alright… So, what are three things you like? Your turn!" Ella gestured at Eva, who slammed her fork on the table. Ella flinched from the loud noise but maintained her smile.

"I like weightlifting, kickboxing, and… music." Eva responded. Ella's eyes lit up at the mention of music.

"Oh! I love music as well! What kind of music do you listen to?" Ella bubbled, practically hopping in place at the thought of discussing music.

"Death metal." Eva answered, after another awkward pause.

"Oh, I see." Ella said, rubbing the back of her head nervously. "I've never heard of dead metal before. It sounds very…" she paused, "Exciting."

"Yours." Noah chuckled, being subsequently shoved down the table by Eva, crashing into Sammy along the way and knocking both of them off the table.

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH! I DON'T like her singing!" Eva shouted at Noah, immediately covering her mouth in regret. Ella's shoulders drooped, her smile only slightly faltering.

"Smooth moves, Colossus." Noah muttered as he helped Sammy up.

"Shut up, shut up!" Eva turned to Ella. "Ignore what I said!" she pleaded angrily.

"Ella, she didn't mean it." assured Zoey.

"Oh, that's quite alright!" forgave Ella, her voice audibly cracking. "I understand. I won't bother you anymore." Ella grabbed her tray and sat at an empty table next to the Maids' current table.

* * *

**Confessional: Ella**

"It's okay, Ella." Ella whispered to herself repeatedly. Turning to the camera, she wiped a single tear off of her face and gave a pained smile. "My grandmother always told me that I was special. She told me that I had to share my voice with the world."

"But if the world doesn't want to hear me, I'll follow their request. Sorry, grandmother."

* * *

Down the hall, Amy was done puking her guts out in the confessional, and stumbled out the door, covering her nose to avoid the smell.

"I can feel your pain, my body did not approve of the food either." a high-pitched voice said to her. Looking down the hall, Amy found that the source of the voice was Dawn, who sat in a chair located next to a potted plant, which she patted like a dog.

"Do you mind?!" Amy snapped, trying to hide the puke stains on her clothes away from Dawn.

"My, you must calm your temper!" Dawn gasped, cupping her hand over one of the plant's leaves, as if covering its imaginary ears. "Your aura will only continue to darken, Amanda."

Amy stomped over to Dawn and yanked her out of the chair. "My name is AMY." she scowled through gritted teeth.

Dawn stood up, unfazed by Amy's temper. "There are thousands of people in this world with your name, Amanda. You cannot let one person ruin your own name for you." she calmly responded, pacing behind Amy.

Amy stood still, in utter shock at Dawn's statement. She hung her head, trying to form a response, but it all came out as a sad stutter. "Wh- What are you… Who told...?" Amy stuttered. She turned around to face Dawn, but she was no longer there.

"Hey!" shouted Amy. "Get back here!" She searched the area for Dawn to no avail. Defeated, she slumped into the chair and thought to herself.

Back in the cafeteria, Jo was studying her team, watching them while they spoke.

* * *

**Confessional: Jo**

"I reviewed the footage from my past seasons on this show." Jo pounded her fist into her hand. "My performance was absolutely unacceptable. If I want a victory, I need allies." She put her hand to her chin in a thinking gesture.

"I don't do allies, but I'm willing to make sacrifices if it means a better chance of winning."

* * *

"_Princess Dork-A-Lot is out of the question. No chance._" Jo thought to herself. "_Anger Management, Poindexter, and Freakazoid are the biggest threats here._"

Jo continued to list off her teammates in her head. "_Those twins, Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Idiot… maybe. One of them seems pretty spineless, but the other seems pretty obnoxious._" After some heavy thinking, Jo left herself with three options: Sammy, Shawn, and Zoey. She had decided to talk with Shawn first.

"So, Zombie Dork- I mean, Shawn." chattered Jo as she sat down across from Shawn. Shawn squinted at her suspiciously.

"What do you want?" responded Shawn, crossing his arms in an almost defensive way.

"You want to win, right?" Jo asked him, smirking mischievously.

"I already won before." Shawn nonchalantly replied. Jo groaned.

"Okay, I'll cut the chatter. Do you want an alliance or not?" Jo explained impatiently.

"I don't do alliances." insisted Shawn, getting up to return his now empty food tray. Jo jumped up and grabbed his arm, pulling back.

"You know you'll just get voted off if you stay a loner, right?" The jockette snarled, receiving an intense gaze from Shawn.

"Go ahead. The first challenge hasn't even started yet."

"Fine by me." Jo

At the other end of the Maids' table, Zoey and Sammy sat across from each other, discussing mutual interests. Jo decided to take this opportunity.

"Favorite music?" Sammy asked.

"Most of my favorite artists are really obscure, I doubt you've heard of them. But they're really good." Zoey responded. "...But I do like The Bertles." She paused, thinking to herself, and added "I think I can tolerate most music, as long as it isn't rap, metal, or country. _Especially_ metal. Can't stand it."

"Oh, well… I like Diamondback. They're good." Sammy hesitantly responded.

"Oh, that's nice!"

* * *

**Confessional: Zoey**

"I really don't like to judge, because Sammy is such a nice girl…" Zoey looked away from the camera with a look of guilt on her face. "But Diamondback? _Really?!_"

* * *

"Yeah, that music's cool, I guess. But have you ever heard Top 50 Workout Music Hits from the 60's by Jack Squat?!" exclaimed Jo as she sat down at the table. Zoey and Sammy stared at her in confusion.

"...Oh, hi Jo?" Zoey faltered. "Did you want to talk with us?"

"As a matter of fact, I did." Jo spoke in an unusually calm tone. "I wanted to know if you two wanted to form an alliance."

Zoey and Sammy exchanged a quick glance of suspicion. "No offense, Jo, I'm thankful for the offer. But why so early? The first challenge hasn't started yet."

Jo snapped her fingers and her tone shifted to something much more direct. "Eva, Noah, Izzy. They'll form an alliance. I saw Radunce- Ella talking with them too. That's 4 votes. They can eliminate basically whoever they want like that."

Zoey and Sammy thought over Jo's statement. "She has a point." Sammy reluctantly admitted.

"Of course I have a point. I'm great at points."

Zoey raised her finger. "Okay, Jo. I'll join your alliance on one condition."

"Name it."

"No backstabbing. Can you do that?" Hands on her hips, the indie chick waited for a confirmation of trust from Jo.

Crossing her arms, Jo happily returned Zoey's glare. "Fine by me, Apology Breath."

"Uhm, well-" Sammy interjected. "I have a condition, too."

"Well? I'm listening!"

"All I ask is that you don't call me Samey." insisted Sammy.

"Tsk. I wasn't gonna call you Samey, that nickname is stupid, and not even funny." Jo replied. Sammy smiled in relief. "I'm gonna call you Tweedle Dumb instead." Sammy's smile instantly disappeared.

Sighing, Sammy replied, "I guess it's better than Samey."

"Glad we're in agreement. I'll see you at the challenge later." Jo gave a mocking salute and went to start a new routine in preparation.

* * *

**Confessional: Jo**

Jo pointed at the camera. "Easy. I know Zoey. She's too goody-goody to say no. And that Sammy chick seems to be the same way too. Bonus."

* * *

**Confessional: Zoey**

Zoey crossed her arms, looking on with distrust written all over her face. "While Jo has a point about not letting one group control who gets eliminated, I don't trust her. At the first sign of betrayal, me and Sammy are out of the alliance.

Lost in thought, she tapped her chin. "Though, maybe she has improved her attitude."

* * *

**Confessional: Sammy**

"Someone wants to ally… with me?!" Sammy looked on in disbelief. "I-I don't know how to feel. I mean, last time I was on this show, everyone hated me! Well, except Jasmine. But still!"

"I'm not sure what to do. I guess I'll just see how it plays out."

* * *

The Butlers sat huddled into one table, listening to Sierra tell bits of trivia about contestants on the show.

"Wow, you really do know your stuff." Jasmine admitted with morbid curiosity. "It's pretty frightening, though."

"Frightening is a good word to describe Sierra." Courtney butted in.

"Aww, don't be like that, Courtney." Sierra held up her phone. "I hosted a poll asking who people think deserve to win a season the most, and you topped it!" Courtney grabbed Sierra's phone to confirm it for herself. When she read it over, she proudly lifted her head high.

"Of course I deserve to win a season. My eliminations were absolutely ridiculous." She grumbled as she stared daggers at Harold.

"It was one time! Gosh!" Harold responded.

"You have no idea how many flame wars your list on All-Stars caused, Courtney! L-O-L! People were _maaaaad_!" Sierra laughed.

"Oh, go suck an egg. It was a basic strategy." Courtney stubbornly held her position.

"Gotta admit though, it was some _juicy_ drama!" Topher said, winking at Courtney.

"Ok, l-m-a-o. Hey, Brick, wanna hear a secret?" Sierra giggled and pulled Brick closer to her before he could respond.

"I heard you were supposed to be on All-Stars." She whispered into his ear. Brick's eyes lit up and he gasped.

"What?! Me? Oh… I'm honored!" He blushed, rubbing the back of his head. "But also, a bit disappointed they didn't pick me in the end. Their choice."

"That's alright, Brick. I sense that you would've done wonderfully." complimented Dawn, who suddenly reappeared behind her team, shocking several of them.

"Oh! Oh! Dawn! Guess what, guess what?!" Sierra bounced up and down, quickly tapping Dawn on the shoulder repeatedly.

"What is it?" Dawn covered her mouth with her hand, surprised by Sierra's excitement.

"Did you know that," Sierra's giggling grew higher. "You ranked #1 on the poll for favorite female contestant from Revenge of the Island?" Shoving her phone in Dawn's face, Dawn stared speechless at Sierra, unsure of how to feel.

"...Thank you." The moonchild mumbled under her breath. "What an odd poll… but it makes me happy nonetheless." she thought to herself.

"Hold on! How is pint-size over here the fan favorite?! I should be the fan favorite! I practically carried that season, I'll have ya know!" Anne Maria argued from behind Dawn.

"Just hold on there. It's just a fan poll, no big deal." Jasmine told Anne Maria, trying to calm her down before her fuse fully blew.

"Oh, no, there were thousands of voters-" Jasmine covered Sierra's mouth before she could say anymore.

"Ladies, ladies, you're all perfect." Topher added in a tone only he would describe as "smooth". Harold cringed, gesturing at him to not say anything further.

"Pfft. I should have won the poll, because I'm me." Max boasted.

"Okay, you do realize it was a poll for a season you didn't compete in, and for girls?" Jasmine responded.

"Females shmemales. I'm Max. I win."

"Riiiiiiight." Jasmine sighed. "Whatever floats your boat, mate."

"Hey, losers!" Chris' voice echoed through the room, surprising all the contestants once again. "The first challenge starts soon! Chef will escort you to the proper room."

Chef kicked open the gate to the kitchen, sporting a butler's outfit complete with a towel wrapped over the arm. "You heard the man. This way." he gestured to the door. Before the Maids could exit through the door, he stopped them. "You're missing one." his voice growled.

The Maids all looked over each other, trying to see who was missing. Sammy meekly raised her hand and spoke. "That's my sister, Amy. I think she went to the bathroom or something." Chef took the towel off of his arm and whipped it to scare the team. "No time, I'll get her later. Follow me."

* * *

Chef escorted the two teams through the mansion, turn after turn, staircase after staircase, until he stopped at one specific room. Inside, it was gigantic, with a high ceiling similar to the Dining Hall of Suspense. The room was filled with fancy tables, equipped with candles, silverware, and deluxe cloth. Two lanes sat in the middle of the room, divided by a few rows of tables stuck closely together. At the opposite end of these lanes sat a giant base with a layer of a cake.

"Ah, there you are!" Chris rolled up his sleeve to check his watch. "You're late. No matter! Let's get this train rolling!" The host snapped his fingers, and a large wardrobe was rolled into the room by Staci. On the wardrobe were 18 different outfits, labeled for every contestant. The outfits were either a butler's suit, or a maid's dress, all with minor visual differences. They were color coded as well: black for the Maids, and blue for the Butlers. Staci wore a special red version of the maid's outfit.

Some contestants chuckled at Staci's clothing. "What's with the getup?" asked Jasmine, who was not amused.

"Come grab your uniform, losers!" Chris exclaimed in delight.

"Is this a joke?" Jo growled.

"You should know by now that Chris doesn't do jokes." Noah told her.

Chris winked at Noah. "Correct-a-mundo, Noah! These are your uniforms! You aren't called the "Maids" and "Butlers" for nothing!"

Some of the contestants reluctantly grabbed their uniforms, checking out their size to make sure they fit. Much to everyone's disgust, Sierra tore off her clothes and threw on her maid outfit within seconds.

Chris shivered and leaned over to Chef. "Remember to edit that out of the final episode." He whispered in his ear.

Some contestants stayed put, not big on the idea of the gaudy uniforms.

"What's the deal, McLame?" Jo asked. "What if I don't wear it?"

"Good question, Jo." Chris responded. "If you refuse to wear your uniform during the times it is required, or it is taken off, you're eliminated. Simple!"

"Oh, you mean like your dumb singing rule that you never enforced? Good to know." The jockette laughed to herself.

"Don't tempt me, Jo."

"Ya, don't tempt him. He's serious." Staci chimed in.

"So, how are we gonna put em' on?" said Anne Maria.

"There's a changing room just down the hall. You've got 3 minutes. I want every one of you losers back here in uniform before they're over! Chop chop!" Chris ordered.

The rest of the contestants scrambled to grab their uniforms and they ran down the hall into the changing rooms. There were only six, so lines formed and tempers rose as some grew impatient.

"What's taking so long, helmet hair?!" Jo shouted from outside the changing room Anne Maria was hogging.

"My hair got messed up by this stinkin' outfit! Get your own room, sweatpants!"

Sammy grunted as she put on her uniform. "Ugh, why is this so tight?"

"Hey, at least you got a suit and not this dress." Zoey shouted to her from the adjacent stall.

"Honestly, I'd take the dress."

As everyone else changed themselves, Sierra sat alone with Chris in the challenge room.

"Oh, Chris, I think the uniforms were a GREAT idea! I actually had this in one of my fanfics before, hehe." Sierra stood uncomfortably close to Chris. "Except that, like, Cody had a maid outfit too. We both did. It was so cute."

As Chris stepped back to get away from Sierra, the contestants started to show up one by one, now in their new uniform. With the exception of a select few, most showed visible contempt for the outfits.

* * *

**Confessional: Max**

"NO!" He boomed. "Have… Have I, Max, the Evil Mastermind," he quivered, "become the servant?! IMPOSSIBLEEEEEEEeeeee-" his voice trailed as he fell to the ground, screaming in agony.

* * *

**Confessional: Anne Maria**

"These uniforms do NOT compliment my figure, I'll let ya know! Chris has NO fashion sense!" Anne Maria opened a pocket mirror, viewing herself in her new uniform.

"Eh, maybe it's aight." She thought as she fixed her hair.

* * *

**Confessional: Shawn**

"Oh, these are NOT practical!" Shawn complained as he unbuttoned his suit. "These hamper the mobility I need to survive!"

"This is why I don't zip my fly! Every bit counts when you need to run from, say, a ZOMBIE! ...Or Jo."

* * *

"Your first challenge is simple." Chris explained as Staci and Chef rolled in two dining carts. "Each team has a dining cart. You will use these to roll to the end of the room and deliver a layer of cake. Stack the cake layers as high as you can. The first team to reach a certain height wins."

"Well, it's official. Chris ran out of ideas." Courtney snickered.

"Oh, that's not all, Courtney. The dining carts are covered in lubricants to reduce friction. If the cake layer drops and touches the ground at any point, you forfeit that round and must go back and get another one. For every forfeit, the other team gets a free extra layer. Who's pushing the cart will rotate every time a layer is delivered or dropped."

"Still sounds simple! Alright, let's get started." Jasmine exclaimed.

Chris walked to the back of the room and sat behind a desk covered in different buttons and controls, covered by a protective glass shield. Taking her uniform which still sat on the rack, Chef exited the room to search for Amy.

"And… START!" Chris announced through his megaphone.

Immediately, the teams huddled together to discuss what order to push their cart.

"I'm first. Apology Breath, you're second. Tweedle Dumb, you're third." Jo commanded. Zoey and Sammy hesitantly agreed with Jo.

"And who decided YOU were in charge?" demanded Eva.

"It's a simple order, Roid Rage. You can be fourth. Poindexter, you're fifth."

"Wow, Poindexter. How original." muttered Noah, disinterested in the physical activity.

"Freakazoid, sixth. Then Walking Dork, Raduncel, and finally Tweedle Idiot when she gets her lazy butt down here. Is that good enough for you?"

"Whatever, it doesn't matter." Eva admitted.

"Good. Let's start." Jo said as she grabbed the handle of the dining cart, ready to run. She stopped when she realized the layer of cake was missing. "Where's the cake?!"

"Pull the lever!" Chris shouted at her.

A lever dropped from the ceiling and hit Jo on the head. As she rubbed her head to soothe the pain, she pulled the lever and a layer of cake dropped right onto the cart from who-knows-where.

* * *

"Alright, here's the deal. I'll go first. Sierra, you follow." said Jasmine, taking charge of the Butlers.

"You should save Sierra for last because she'll waste our time." Courtney suggested.

"She seems strong enough. The order doesn't matter because of how simple the task is."

"I'll go third, I've got an itch to start." Harold volunteered.

"That's the spirit! Harold is third, Anne Maria will go fourth-"

"And what if I don't wanna go fourth?" Anne Maria argued.

"I'll make you go fourth." Jasmine responded, trying to keep her cool. "Topher, you're fifth. Then Dawn, Courtney, Brick, and finally Max. Got it?"

Most agreed on Jasmine's order, except for Max who started poking her in the leg. "And why am I last?! Are you conspiring against me?" he badgered.

"You know why you're last, Max." The outback girl dodged the question, not wanting to waste time. "Come on, team, let's not lose the first challenge!"

Jasmine pulled the lever and the cake dropped. Jo and Jasmine both took off at once, rolling their carts down their respective lanes. Jo gave her all, but Jasmine's long legs gave her the speed advantage, and she reached the goal first. She quickly dropped her layer and rushed back. Jo trailed several seconds behind, pushing herself harder to keep up with Jasmine.

Jasmine returned her cart first. Sierra got a new layer and dashed off. Jo returned to her own team, seething from ending up in second place. She yanked the lever and passed off to Zoey.

"Is that it? Running back and forth?" Jo thought out loud as Zoey ran off. "He's hiding something." Chris, laying back in his chair, hands behind his head, exchanged glances with Jo and gave her a toothy smirk.

Unsurprisingly, Sierra managed to reach the other end first. She dropped the layer of cake down on the pile. In an attempt to be sneaky, she hid behind the cart and rubs off a piece of frosting with her finger. Realizing it was paint, she spat it out.

With that little bit of extra time, Zoey managed to catch up to Sierra and they returned their carts almost instantaneously.

"Just to let you guys know, the frosting is actually paint." explained Sierra, sticking out her tongue which was now stained a sky blue.

* * *

**Confessional: Sierra**

Sierra gargled a cup filled with paint thinner and spat it out. "Is it gone?" She said, opening her mouth wide and sticking her tongue out at the camera. With most of the paint cleared off, she pumped her fist in excitement. "Yes! It's gone!"

She stopped and clicked her mouth a few times. "Oh, so are my tastebuds."

* * *

Due to Sierra wasting time, Sammy had gotten a sizable lead on the Butlers. She pushed her cart slowly and cautiously, fearing she would drop it. She gently placed the cake down, which had allowed Harold to catch up to her. Once the cake was placed, she rushed back as fast as she could, practically burning the toes of her shoes.

The cart sailed down the lane, practically dragging Sammy down with it. Eva stood still and braced for impact. She blocked the cart, flinging Sammy down to the back of the line.

"You might want to go faster next time, but not like that." Eva pulled the lever and grabbed her cake.

Instead of pushing her cart, Eva grabbed the cake. She spun in place, and chucked it across the room like a discus. It stacked perfectly on top of their other layers. Impressed, the Maids instantly started roaring and cheering. Even Jo gave her a golf clap. Eva gave them a small smirk before giving her usual grunt and pulling the lever for the next team member.

The Butlers watched, their mouths agape. Courtney angrily tapped her foot and glared at Chris. "That seriously can't be allowed!" she fumed.

"What'd she do? I wasn't paying attention." Chris laughed. Courtney loudly groaned in frustration.

Due to Eva's cake chucking, the Butlers were now lagging about two points behind. It was almost Max's turn to push the cart, but he was thinking of a plan to himself.

"Yes… YES!" He said to himself, rubbing his hands mischievously. "That will be brilliant!"

Max quickly snuck off to grab whatever supplies he could to fulfill his plan.

"Back off, you lowly cameraman! Evil requires personal boundaries!" Max shouted at the cameraman who followed him. Hiding under a table, covered by the tablecloth, Max began building his evil contraption.

Whistling a triumphant tune, Ella returned her cart and skipped to the back of the line. Jo stomped her foot impatiently.

"Hey Tweedle Dumb!" Jo called over to Sammy. "Where's your moron sister?! It's her turn now!"

Before Sammy could answer, Chef had kicked open the door, holding Amy up by the back of her uniform shirt. He chucked her straight to the front of the line, where she had landed right at Jo's feet. Panting, Chef took a seat next to Chris and drank a sip of water.

"Found her sittin' still in a chair like she was havin' a midlife crisis." Chef explained to Chris. Chris raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Only I get to do that." The host responded.

"Hey, get up, Tweedle Idiot!" Jo prodded Amy with her foot. Amy stood up and smacked Jo's foot away.

"You're wasting our time!" Eva added.

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist!" Amy snapped back. "Chef already gave me the rundown on the challenge, so shut your yaps."

"Where were you?" Sammy asked her.

"Ugh, like, none of your business!" The mean twin snarled, pulling the lever.

Amy got a new layer of cake, preparing for her turn. Suddenly, Chris boomed over his microphone.

"I am now enacting Phase 2!"

The contestants were puzzled at the sudden change. "Phase 2? You didn't mention any Phase 2." questioned Jasmine.

Without a response, Chris pushed a button and pulled a switch on his control panel. Instantly, the floor beneath Amy sprung up, launching her and the cart across the room. As she hit the ground, the floor sprung up once again, launching her back in the direction she came from. This process repeated several times until she laid flat on her back, covered in smashed cake and paint.

With the food she ate earlier not fully gone, she ended up projectile vomiting it all off. Her team stepped back, trying to avoid being caught in the whirlwind of slop.

"And that's what happens when you're late to a challenge!" Chris laughed, giving Chef a high five.

Meanwhile on the Butler's side, it was Jasmine's turn to push the cart. In certain parts of the lane, the floor rose up, creating a maze she had to maneuver between.

"Yeah, that's where Chris comes in." Jasmine sighed and grabbed the cart. She thrusted her hands forward, pretending to rev up the cart. With a deep breath, she dashed down the lane. With each turn, she struggled to keep the cake balanced.

The outback girl sighed in relief, as she had reached the final stretch. Right before she reached the goal, a part of the floor rose up right in front of her. She gasped in shock and tried to frantically steer around it as best she could without launching the cake off of the cart.

Successfully reaching the goal, Jasmine placed down her cake, now starting to rival her in height.

As Jasmine headed back to her team, it was Zoey's turn to push. Before she could start, she watched in horror as the middle of the lane was turned into two ramps with a flaming hoop in the middle.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding me." Zoey gulped. Unsure of how to make the gap, she took a breath and decided to wing it. She let out a war cry as she pushed with all her might, sprinting down the lane as fast as she possibly could.

As she reached the ramp, the floor below her once again sprung up, launching her and the cart forward, right through the flaming hoop. Her war cry turned into a scream as she flew through the air, landing on the cart. Her layer of cake followed behind her, splattering on the top of her head, covering her in gooey bits of paint-flavored cake.

"Ooh, guess that's a forfeit. Here, I'll help you get back." Chris said as he pulled a switch, launching Zoey and her team's cart back through the hoop, bringing her back to the starting line.S

With a grunt, Zoey used her little amount of energy to roll herself off the cart. Sammy quickly came to her aid, dragging her back to the end of the line. Well, until Jo threw her hand out to block her.

"Less dragging, more pushing. No time to waste!" The jockette shouted at her, imitating a military commander. Jo grabbed Zoey by her left arm and dragged her rather forcefully to the end of the line, where they both sat.

* * *

**Confessional: Noah**

"Considering this show, I'm surprised her hair didn't burn off. It's like a tradition at this point."

* * *

As the Maids' lead grew stronger and stronger, the Butlers had begun to lose confidence, quarreling amongst themselves.

"Come on, people! Pick up the pace!" Courtney snapped her fingers in an impatient manner.

"Ma'am, we're doing the best we can." Brick stood up straight and gave a salute, this time a lot more solemnly.

"We can win this, easily." Harold tried to reassure the team, wrapping his arm around Brick's shoulder and giving him a fist bump.

The Butlers' quarrel was interrupted by a scream, the source being Dawn, who had just been hit by a newly summoned wrecking ball and flung across the room.

Courtney turned to Harold, raising one of her eyebrows as she stared daggers into him. Harold pretended to ignore her and whistled a tune.

Dawn hit the ground in a manner similar to Zoey, but this time she managed to throw her arms out and catch the cake, which received some cheers of encouragement by her team. While her face was mostly covered by her hair, a small smirk was visible as she placed the cake down, now having to use the ladder that was placed next to it.

As the team cheered on Dawn for her astronomically lucky catch, Max was still hard at work engineering his mysterious contraption.

"And a little bit of this here… And a little bit of that there… and A-HA!" Max exclaimed, almost nearing completion of his newest evil plan. He threw down the fork he was using as a wrench and picked up his contraption, eyeing it from different angles. "Almost done. Those Maids will never see it coming! BWAHAHAHAHA!"

Hearing Max's nasally laugh, some of the Butlers looked over to the table he was hiding under with a look of morbid curiosity.

"You done with your stand-up routine yet, Triple-Chin Wonder?!" Anne Maria shouted at the laughing table. Max immediately fell silent, quietly insulting himself for blowing his cover.

"There is no EVIL here! It is only I, Terry the Talking Table!" The evil mastermind responded in a low-pitched voice, fiddling with the tablecloth as he spoke to imitate a moving mouth.

"Oh yeah? I had a boyfriend named Terry once." Anne Maria said in a surprisingly calm voice, walking over to the table and leaning on it. "He was a pain in the $!# and now he's in jail on four counts of armed robbery." Her calm demeanor vanished as she yanked off the tablecloth, revealing Max crouched under it, staring at her like a deer in headlights.

"This is merely an illusion! A hologram! You've been deceived!" Max covered his face with his arm and scooted back away from Anne Maria. "OKAY DON'T HURT ME!" he cried. He grabbed his contraption and used it to shield himself from the diva, who had crouched down underneath the table to glare at him directly.

"What's with the gizmo?" She asked, curiously pointing to what Max was holding.

Max shoved it behind his back, responding "A true evil genius never shares his secrets!"

"I dunno, most of the bad guys in movies always told their plans right away even though it didn't help them at all." Anne Maria shrugged, a touch of disappointment in her voice. Max pursed his lips, trying extremely hard to restrain himself from responding, but ultimately failed.

"FINE! It is a rocket to destroy the other team's cake. But I need more time to finish it. Now, away with you!" commanded Max in a voice that was meant to sound intimidating. He motioned her away by waving his hands as if saying "shoo". She got up and walked away, but only because she would rather not talk with him any longer than she needed to.

It was Ella's first turn after the start of Phase 2. Trying her hardest not to look nervous for her team, she grabbed her cart and waited for what Chris had in store for her. She waited a few seconds, but nothing showed up. The lane was completely void of obstacles. She waited several more seconds, nothing.

Cautiously, she began her delivery and ran down the empty lane. About halfway through, she was stopped in her tracks when the floor in front of her opened up. Down from below jumped up a giant, hairy spider that rivaled her in height. Despite barely being taller, to Ella it felt like it towered over her.

She froze up. Not being able to move, she stood still while the spider slowly stepped over to her.

"Just punch it in the face!" Jo screamed from afar, wanting to keep the team's surprisingly large lead.

"It's not real! It's just a guy in a costume!" shouted Noah, trying to wake Ella from her frozen state.

The spider closed in on Ella, with only the cart sitting between it and her. It looked straight at the cake placed on the cart, and subsequently smacked it right off, causing a forfeit. Ella's fearful quivering worsened, and she started mumbling incoherently. "_Mon dieu…"_ she whimpered as her eyes rolled back into her head, collapsing onto the floor.

* * *

**Confessional: Ella**

"_J-J'adore toutes sortes d'animaux..._" With her head hung low, Ella pitifully tapped her fingers together. "_Mais j'ai eu quelques rencontres terrifiantes avec des araignées quand j'étais petite, et depuis, la peur ne m'a jamais quitté..._" She nervously hummed a calming tune to herself.

* * *

The Maids, aside from Jo and Amy who rolled their eyes and groaned as their lead was now at risk, collectively gasped in shock as Ella laid unconscious on the floor. Even the giant spider sat confused at her reaction, scratching its head with one of its spindly limbs.

The Butlers had just started to notice what happened, garnering mixed reactions. Most of them were visibly worried, but a few, namely Courtney and Anne Maria, wanted to use the opportunity to get a lead in.

On the opposing lane was Brick, who had just finished delivering his layer of cake in record time. As he dashed back with his cart in tow, he noticed his team paying more attention to the opposing lane than him and wondered what the big deal was. When he turned over to the opposing team's lane, he practically jumped in shock at the situation.

"_She needs help._" Brick thought to himself. He was in a panic, debating himself on whether to rush over to assist Ella, or abandon his code to score more points for his team. Habitually biting his nails off, he looked over for his team to gauge their reactions. Courtney was glaring at him, making subtle head nods towards the cart. Anne Maria, Topher, and Sierra had gestured to him as well, but with varying amounts of intensity. The rest of the team was purely focusing their attention on Ella.

* * *

**Confessional: Brick**

"Team or not, the well-being of a fellow competitor always takes priority!" He angrily adjusted his bowtie, and pointed his index finger upwards to emphasize his point. "And if they don't like it, well… well… They can just deal with it!"

* * *

Hopping over tables and sprinting down the lane, the cadet made his way over. Determined to get to Ella, he shoved the spider out of the way, knocking them onto the ground. When they fell, the spider's head fell off and rolled away, revealing Staci underneath.

"Wha?!" Brick exclaimed as he lifted Ella's legs into a recovery position. "Why didn't you help her?!" Waiting for a response from Staci, he gently tapped Ella's face.

"I CAN'T! I'M IN A SPIDER COSTUME!" Staci cried, swinging the costume's useless limbs around. Brick let out an exasperated sigh. Between Staci's uselessness and Ella's unresponsiveness, he felt very stressed and agitated.

The ringing of Chris' megaphone sounded through the room. "You have FIVE MINUTES LEFT to complete your cake! If it is not done by then, the team with more successful deliveries wins!"

Brick felt the stares of both teams on him. He stuck to his guns and started chest compressions on Ella as Staci curiously watched from behind him, almost breathing down his neck. The Maids and Butlers both squabbled to themselves as the game had come to a complete stand-still. Eva felt a spark in her temper, and decided to take action in order to hurry the game up.

As Eva began to run over, Brick had started giving breaths to Ella. Unsurprisingly, several "Oooo"s echoed throughout the room, along with a few kissing noises.

"God, I wish that were me." Amy admitted as she lazily wiped the vomit around her mouth with her sleeve. Not realizing she had spoken out loud, the rest of her team stared at her with a look of collective disgust on their faces.

As the cadet prepared to repeat the process from the start, viewing his attempt as unsuccessful, Ella slowly opened her eyes. "...Huh?" With the help of Brick, she sat up. Feeling dazed, she rubbed her head which felt as if it was throbbing. Brick let out a sigh of happy relief and helped Ella to her feet.

"Are you alright? Do you need me to-" Eva ran up from behind Ella and swept her up into her arms, cutting off Brick's offer. Ella looked at Brick and Eva back and forth several times out of confusion.

"Just go help your team, Private." Eva remarked. With Ella in her arms, she wound up a kick and sent her team's cart barreling down towards her team, and sprinted off after it.

"One of my ancestors invented CPR. If it weren't for this dumb costume, I would've done it myself-" Staci started to point out, before noticing that Brick had hopped back to his own lane. "Oh." She pouted, trying her hardest to cross her arms using the spider costume's limbs. Before she could pick up the head of her costume, the floor beneath her sunk, taking her back to wherever she originally came from.

"Wow, you're so strong!" Now semi-conscious, Ella complimented Eva. Eva appreciated the compliment, but decided not to show it. "Oh!" Ella squeaked as Eva rather hastily placed her down on her feet.

Sammy rushed over, wiping dust off of Ella's uniform. "Are you alright?! You fainted!"

As Ella processed Sammy's statement, she worriedly covered her mouth. "I'm sorry!" she whimpered.

"Brick left his own team to save you!"

"Yeah, what a numbskull. But that's Brick-For-Brains for ya." Jo shrugged.

Ella blushed in embarrassment, coming to the realization that the Maids were still in the lead by a large margin. Izzy hopped up behind the songbird and gave her a surprise hug.

"Don't feel guilty that he'll be eliminated because of you!" Izzy said in a completely sincere tone, attempting to comfort Ella. Before Ella could emotionally process this statement, Sammy dragged her away and reassured her that nothing is her fault.

* * *

Brick had returned to his team, noticing mixed reception. Courtney tapped her foot, arms crossed.

"You have fun over there?" The overachiever scolded in an impatient tone.

"Couldn't have waited til' we were done?" Anne Maria asked.

Brick started to sweat, wondering if he didn't think his decision through enough. Jasmine gave him a warm smile, trying to calm him down. Putting her hand on his shoulder, she told him "You did the right thing, don't sweat it." Her calm demeanor turned stern. "But we are still losing, unless a miracle happens. And that means someone's going home."

Looking back and forth at her teammates, she faced Brick. "It might be you, mate."

"NOT SO FAST!" a nasally voice screamed from behind the Butlers. Max, with his rocket in hand, jumped to the front of the team with pure malice in his eyes.

He grabbed a candle from one of the many tables scattered throughout the room and used it to light the fuse on his rocket. Pointed directly at the Maids' cake, Max jumped back and rubbed his hands together as he awaited the glorious destruction of the other team.

Hearing the sizzling and crackling of the rocket, the Maids took notice of the rocket pointed directly at their cake. As if one collective unit, they all dashed towards the rocket so their win wouldn't be jeopardized.

Realizing this rocket could be there one chance at victory, the Butlers stood their ground, blocking the path of the angry team stampeding towards them. Max stood behind, laughing at himself so hard he started to cough as he ran out of breath.

"Oh NO you don't, you dirty, cheating-" Resembling an angry bull, Eva lead the charge on the enemy team. Some of the Butlers recoiled back once they got a glimpse of the pure rage on Eva's face and braced for impact. Jasmine decided to take matters into her own hands and jumped in front of them, as she was the only one who could rival a furious Eva in strength.

With 10 seconds on the clock, Max sat behind the team, twirling a non-existent mustache as the fuse grew shorter and shorter. Eva rammed into Jasmine, pushing her back, but not hard enough to knock her over. The rest of the Maids followed close behind, attempting to tackle their opponents to get to the rocket. Well, aside from Ella, who was just following behind to help the team with moral support as she didn't want to actually tackle anyone.

Preoccupied with trying to take down Eva, Jasmine's eyes widened with shock as she saw Izzy barreling towards her. Before she could react, Izzy leaped into the air, jumping off Eva's head and performing a front flip right over Jasmine's head.

"NO! YOU FIEND!" Max screamed out in terror as he realized Izzy was coming for his rocket. With mere seconds on the clock, Max jumped out in front of his rocket and assumed a martial arts pose at Izzy to intimidate her. The freakshow shoved him out of the way with minimal effort. As the last second rolled down on the clock, she barely managed to kick it away before the rocket's fuse blew, launching it across the room.

* * *

**Confessional: Max**

"AT LAST! MY REIGN OF EVIL HAS BEGUN!" Max exclaimed, pounding his fist onto the counter excitedly.

* * *

The rocket soared through the air, flying around in all sorts of twists and loops. To Max's horror, Izzy's kick had blown the rocket off-course. Both teams had looked over from their brawling to watch as the rocket flew not into the Maids' cake, but right into the Butler's own cake. With a loud boom, the cake had exploded, filling the room with cake bits and fresh paint.

* * *

**Confessional: Max**

"My reign of evil was very short-lived."

* * *

"And the Marvelous Maids win this challenge!" Chris shouted through his megaphone. While the contestants stood practically frozen in place, covered in cake, Chris calmly walked out from behind his shielded control panel and brushed a bit of dust from his shoulder.

"Ooh, tough luck for you guys." The host let out a slight chuckle at the contestants' misfortune. "You might want to hit the showers, and maybe decide about who's getting the boot."

"And the showers are where?" Amy spoke up.

Chef walked up and began shoving the contestants out of the room towards the showers.

Now clean and properly wrapped in towels, Jasmine tried to discuss the upcoming elimination with Dawn and Courtney.

"Who are you gonna vote off?" Jasmine inquired, replacing the towel wrapped on her head with her hat. "I would recommend Max."

"Why him? His rocket almost got us a win." Courtney replied. "If anything, I think Brick should go for stopping the game for an enemy player."

"Honestly, we were gonna lose regardless at the rate we were racking up points." The outback girl shrugged, brushing off Courtney's concern. "I have experience with Max. Sad to say it, but I wouldn't keep him around. Brick seems like a much better asset to our lineup."

"Yes, it's true. Brick has shown his worth last time we were together. Max's aura, to be quite blunt, is as dull as my tea leaves after being left out for too long." Dawn explained. Courtney groaned, not fully convinced by Jasmine and Dawn's arguments.

"Gotta say, these ladies provide a good argument." An unknown voice chimed in, soon revealing itself to be Topher. Topher and Sierra walked in, shocking the trio of ladies a bit, who defensively adjusted their towels. "Max is about as useful to us as off-brand crayons are to kindergarteners."

"Because you were so useful before?" Jasmine scolded him.

Topher visibly looked offended, but quickly put up a confident demeanor, pretending to laugh at himself. "Too much Chris will change a man."

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "So, you agree with voting off Max?"

"I mean, duh." Sierra shrugged. "I've had experiences with Max fans, trust me, they're CRAZY! Just like him!"

* * *

**Confessional: Topher**

"And the pot calls the kettle black."

* * *

"So that's four votes for Max." Jasmine counted up the people present. "And one vote for… whatever Courtney is thinking of."

"I'm going to assume Harold is voting for Max. He and Brick seem to hit it off quite well." Topher observed.

"Harold… and Brick. Odd pair, but I'll take a mental note." Sierra said to herself, furiously typing something on her phone's notepad.

"Do you ever put that thing away?" Topher asked in an annoyed tone.

Sierra, not even looking up from her phone, responded, "No! It's practically my lifeblood. DON'T TOUCH!" Topher raised his hands defensively as she raised her voice and stepped back.

"Alright, alright. Totally got the point."

* * *

Later on in the evening, the Butlers reported to the Dining Hall of Suspense. With Chef's instruction, they sat themselves down at the long, extravagantly decorated table facing the stage. The room was dimly lit, with most of the light on their side of the room coming from the few candles lit on the table itself. On the other side of the room was the stage, still sporting its giant organ.

The contestants sat in silence until a loud note was played on the organ, turning their attention to it. Chris stood on the stage, twirling his cane with his usual grin on his face.

"Welcome, losers, to your first ceremony of termination." Chris announced. Chef and Staci rolled up one of the dining carts from earlier, which was still covered in paint and cake bits. Atop the cart were different platters, covered by a lid as to hide the contents. One was placed in front of each contestant. When Max tried to open his, Chef slapped his hand.

"Termination? I thought it was _elimination._" griped Courtney. Chris simply raised his hand as if to interrupt her.

"Termination, elimination. Same thing. It's just part of the mansion theme. Since you're the Butlers, and they're the Maids, it's like I'm firing you. Get it?" Much to Chris' dismay, no one acknowledged his joke.

"You guys can't take a joke, huh?" The playful tone in Chris' voice diminished. "Well, alright. In front of each of you is a platter. When I call your name, you will open the platter. If you're safe, there should be a nice s'more inside for you to eat." Some contestants lit up at the mention of s'mores, staring intently at their platters.

"If you're not safe, well, you get nothing!" Chris broke into laughter, wiping a tear off his face. "Nothing!"

Clearing his throat, Chris pulled out an envelope with contestants' names on them and the amount of votes for each of them, only for him to read.

"I see you've already been acquainted with the voting method. Just crossing out someone's name from a list of your team. Simple!"

Chris began to read the names. "Courtney, Jasmine, Harold." The aforementioned contestants opened their platters, revealing three s'mores underneath just as Chris said. "You're safe."

Harold happily scarfed down his s'more as Chris continued to read off names. "Dawn and Topher, you're also safe." Dawn silently clapped in delight and opened her platter. Topher gave a thumbs up to Chris as he took a bite out of his s'more.

"Sierra, Anne Maria…" The two opened their platters and sighed in relief. "Safe as well."

The atmosphere grew tense as Chris reached the bottom two: Max and Brick. Max sat arms crossed with a look of confidence on his face. On the other hand, Brick was sweating as he worriedly stared as his platter.

"Brick, you're on the chopping block tonight. You cost a hefty chunk of time from your team because you decided to make out with Ella. Not cool, man." Brick's face turned red and he stood up and angrily pointed at Chris.

"That is slander, sir! I would never do that! I was trained to help my fellow citizens, no matter what!"

Jasmine grabbed Brick and sat him down, patting him on the back as his lips quivered.

"Max, you're on the chopping block because your rocket backfired, destroying your own team's cake instead."

"If it hadn't backfired, the enemy team's cake would've been destroyed and they would be sitting here instead of us." Max corrected him.

"Well, that, and because you're generally kind of annoying." The host added. "Now, both of you, open your platters."

Max and Brick opened their platters. The last s'more belonged to…

_Brick._

Brick's mouth gaped open in awe, genuinely surprised that he was spared termination. He gleefully ate his s'more, performing a little happy jig in his chair and giving Harold a high five. Courtney watched from down the table, rolling her eyes in disappointment.

Max shoved back his chair, slamming the table in a fit of rage. "IMPOSSIBLE! This is ridiculous! This is an OUTRAGE!" he spluttered, saying every word that came to his mind. Max looked down at his teammates as he gritted his teeth. "We shall meet again. I'm not done with you. I shall NEVER be done with you! You will rue this day!"

Chef grabbed Max and hauled him over to Chris, who stood in front of a small opening etched into the wall next to the stage.

"Congratulations, Max. You've been terminated. Or should I say, demoted?" Chris patted the floor of the opening, which was large enough for even humans to fit in. "Say hello to this season's termination method: The Dumbwaiter of Shame."

"You dare call me DUMB?!" accused Max, hopelessly kicking Chef in an attempt to escape his muscular grasp.

"He ain't, but I am." Chef retorted.

"No, Max, a dumbwaiter is a type of elevator used to transport food between floors." Chris explained. "Except we'll be using this to drop you down, down into the basement."

Max, accepting his fate, glared at Chris with a look of bewilderment. "And I go where?"

"This season, termination still takes you out of the game, but technically, you'll still be part of it. Down below here is the Loser's Cabin, where each terminated contestant will be staying for the remainder of the season. Mostly you'll just be my lackeys for setting up challenges and other miscellaneous tasks," Chris turned to the camera, blocking one side of his face with his hand as if he was being secretive. "It's cheaper that way." He turned back to Max, continuing his spiel. "But sometimes, you'll get to be part of the challenges themselves! Sounds exciting, huh?"

"No." Max bluntly responded. Chef put him down in the dumbwaiter, where he pouted.

"Aww, too bad. Well, sayonara!" Chris said as he flipped the switch that was placed next to the dumbwaiter. With a 'click!', the floor Max sat on disappeared from beneath him, dropping him down the long shaft into the basement. As he fell, his voice echoed, "CURSE YOU, CHRIS MCLEAN!"

Chris walked towards the contestants, standing in front of the table so they would be in the background of the shot.

"One down, seventeen to go. Who's next? Will Anne Maria stop destroying my property? Will Max ever get his revenge? That one was a rhetorical question, by the way. Will Brick stop trying to make out with Ella? Find out on the next episode of," Chris raised his hands up as the camera zoomed out, giving off a bigger view of the room.

"Total Drama,"

The view turned to that of outside the mansion, with the moon casting light on it from behind.

"Mansion McLean!"

_And here are each of the Butler's votes, for your reading pleasure._

* * *

**Confessional: Courtney**

Courtney capped her pen, holding up a piece of paper with each of her teammates on it. Next to each teammate's picture was a box. She pointed to Brick's box, which was crossed out in marker.

"I can't trust him not to abandon us for the other team in another challenge later on down the line. Even if Max seems like an idiot, at least he's determined."

* * *

**Confessional: Harold**

"Why would I vote off Brick? No. Way." He crossed out Max's box.

* * *

**Confessional: Jasmine**

"Brick is a valuable asset. Kind, honorable, coordinated. Max is," Jasmine paused, looking away from the camera and scratching her chin. "Well, none of those things, really. I should see about setting up a deal with Brick."

* * *

**Confessional: Topher**

"It'd be funny to keep Max on the team. Could mean less competition later on in the merge." He said, flicking off a bit of hair from his fingers. "But only for the laughs. Brick is a better teammate for now, and we need those."

* * *

**Confessional: Sierra**

"YOU SEE THIS, MAX4LYFE2004?!" She shouted, putting her eye up against the camera lens. She backed up, showing the paper front and center. She crossed out Max's box multiple times, practically filling it entirely with black, until her marker tore through the paper. "HE'S GONE! NO MORE MAX! I TOLD YOU, I ALWAYS WIN!"

* * *

**Confessional: Dawn**

"I should've seen this coming…" Dawn lamented, slowly crossing out Max's box with an elegantly curved X. "This is just how it was meant to be. With the thunderstorm that constantly hovers over Max, I couldn't keep him on the team. Maybe, just maybe, he'll look into his heart and clear the skies."

* * *

**Confessional: Anne Maria**

Anne Maria, still in her uniform even though the challenge was long over, continued to admire herself with her pocket mirror. Remembering what she was there for, she scrambled for the paper and crossed off Max's box.

"Oh yeah, what's -his-name. Matt. He's a dweeb, like, an unreal dweeb. At least I can find some level of appeal in Brick."

* * *

**Confessional: Max**

"Easy. I'm the most competent member of this team. That army minion… he was utterly useless! If it weren't for those rotten Maids, I would've single handedly brought us the victory! Oh, sweet victory…" With two quick sweeps of his marker, he crossed out Brick's box.

* * *

**Confessional: Brick**

"It's because of me that our team lost!" He saluted. "I'm not cut out for this, sir! I shall take my exit with pride… while I still can." He sniffed, his lips starting to quiver. He crossed out his own box and presented it to the camera.

* * *

_Team Status:_

**The Marvelous Maids**: Eva, Jo, Ella, Izzy, Noah, Shawn, Zoey, Amy, Sammy.

**The Brilliant Butlers**: Jasmine, Topher, Sierra, Brick, Harold, Anne Maria, Courtney, Dawn.

**Eliminated**:

**_18th: Max, The Evil Genius._**


	4. Intermission

**And now, a video message from home, to **_**Amy and Samey.**_

"Hi Sammy! Daddy here." A middle-aged balding man says to the camera with a chipper voice, waving playfully. "I hope you're doing great this time around. Meet any new friends yet? Ohohohoho, I'm just joking! I'll see that for myself. Wink wink."

"With that kind of winnings, we could finally get you into that art school you've been dying to get into for years! Now wouldn't THAT be exciting, huh?" He laughs to himself, adjusting the rims of his glasses.

"I'll invite all your friends over to celebrate your victory. Drinks, pizza, your favorite music... all of it, just for you!" He sits up straight, his chipper demeanor replaced with a scowl. He stares right into the camera lens.

"And Amanda? _Don't ruin it for us._"

* * *

**Author's Note: I'll keep this brief. No, I haven't updated since February. I know. I've been caught up in other projects, and that, combined with my terrible writing habits, has put this fic on the backburner. **

**Mansion McLean is also undergoing an almost complete rewrite due to my lack of satisfaction with my current plans and because of overlap with other TD projects I am a part of. However, I wanted to give you some sort of update, so I hope this is okay. Thank you for your patience.**


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